Haitian-born Quebecker to be Canada's next governor-general

[Minstrel Boy]

Constitutionally, the Governor General is Canada's Head of State, though the role is largely ceremonial.



Haitian-born Quebecker to be Canada's next governor-general

Wednesday, August 3, 2005

Ottawa — A Haitian-born journalist whose family fled the regime of one of the world's most brutal dictators will be tapped Thursday to become Canada's next governor-general.

Sources said Prime Minister Paul Martin will make the surprise-appointment Thursday of Michaelle Jean, a decorated 48-year-old broadcaster and filmmaker. Ms. Jean will replace the outgoing Adrienne Clarkson after an exhaustive search that focused almost exclusively on candidates from Quebec.

...

“Canadians are going to fall in love with this woman,” said a source. “There is no other word to describe her than inspirational. She is extraordinary.”

She is best-known in Quebec as a television journalist on Radio-Canada and was also the host in the English-language CBC Newsworld of the Passionate Eye and Rough Cuts. She has also made a number of award-winning documentaries.


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050803.web-gov-gen04/BNStory/National/

I really like this appointment! :toast:

CBC Personalities: Michaëlle Jean

An award-winning reporter and host with a real passion for documentary films, Michaëlle Jean brings an insider's perspective to her duties as host of CBC Newsworld's THE PASSIONATE EYE: SUNDAY SHOWCASE, THE PASSIONATE EYE MONDAY, THE PASSIONATE EYE ON CBC TELEVISION and ROUGH CUTS. As she introduces the best documentaries from Canada and around the world for CBC Newsworld, Jean also continues to be seen on RDI as host of the French-language documentary series Grands Reportages.

Since 1995, Jean has served as a host/reporter on many RDI programs such as Le Monde ce soir, L'Edition quebecoise, Horizons francophones, le Journal RDI and RDI à l'écoute. She has also dealt with challenging themes such as the Roman Catholic Church in a four-day debate entitled "Le Pape en France, pedophilia in L'enfance volée" and Chinese politics in "La rétrocession de Hong Kong à la Chine." Among her many awards: the Amnesty International Journalism Award in 1995 for a 15-part series on women; the 1994 Anik Prize for information reporting and the 2000 Galaxi Award for best information program host.

Jean has also worked with renowned filmmaker Jean-Daniel Lafond to produce three independent documentaries: L'heure de Cuba (1999), about the 40th anniversary of the Cuban revolution, Tropique Nord (1994) about being black in Quebec and the Hot Docs award-winning Haiti dans tous nos rêves (1995).

...

Born in Port-au-Prince, Haïti, a young Michaëlle fled François Duvalier's regime in 1968, settling in Quebec with her family. Fluent in five languages - French, English, Spanish, Italian and Haitian Creole - Jean studied at the University of Montreal and universities in Florence, Milan and Perugia, Italy.
http://www.cbc.ca/programguide/personality/index.jsp?personality=Jean%2C+Michaelle&program=Passionate+Eye

[applegrove]

1. This is exciting.

[Maple]

2. She's a great choice!

And the role is largely ceremonial...until she's called on to referee and make a choice for govt. Rarely happens, but occasionally.... :D

Tories hate this btw.

[Minstrel Boy]

4. Your remark about Conservative reaction

made me curious, so I took a rare trip over to Free Dominion. This appointment sure isn't going down well. Heh heh.

For instance:

"Putting a slug into this country would be a blessing.

"I'm convinced now it's a big socialist experiment to see how much conservatives will take before they go ape-shit and kill everyone"

And then there's the sniper wearing the t-shirt that reads "When all else fails, vote from the rooftops." Swell bunch of folks over there.

[Maple]

5. Yeah, charming group aren't they?

She's 'foreign born' ya know...like the Queen isn't??

And they have this idea that all immigrants vote Liberal, so they want to stop immigration, and this appointment just 'encourages them'

I always figure immigrants are better Canadians because they chose to come here...it wasn't an 'accident of birth.'

And of course there's the little matter of skin colour, which apparently means she isn't a 'real' Canadian. Even though many black families have been here for 8 and 9 generations...longer than most Conservatives!

Then the Conservatives wonder why they don't get elected! :D

[Bassic]

19. Yeah but the queen is anglo saxon

So it's okay.

[Darth_Kitten]

29. I'm a great canadian and I was born here...

:(

And no, actually a lot of immigrants vote Conservative. :)

[Up2Late]

34. I think that's true about immigrants in the United States too.

They KNOW how bad it can be in other countries around the world. Immigrants, not only being extremely brave, by moving to such a unfamiliar place, but they are more of the "go getter" type.

The ignorant bigots in this country, who barely speak their native language of English, treat or think that of a non-english speaking immigrant as stupid, but in most cases, English will be their 2nd or 3rd language.

[sonicx]

8. Free Dominion...

Is that a Canadian clone of Freeperland? What do they call themselves? "Free doms" "Domies"?

[Maple]

10. Yeah, it is

They are actually linked with Free Republic, got their start that way, and all of them post to both sites.

I call them Dominos...or dummies...or after reading things like this latest thread....a helluva lot worse.

Oh for a tiny island in a tsunami zone to deport them to!

Yuck. Excuse me while I go shower and scrub. :puke:

[Bassic]

23. I'd never seen that site

What a bunch of idiots. "Québec has destroyed the country at the expense of Western Canada"

Sorry Buddy but last time I checked Alberta was still better off then we were. I hope there are intellingent consevatives out there and that we simply don't notice them because their idiot buddies make more noise.

[u4ic]

9. Good grief,

I've never seriously looked there before. The Gun Room? Canadians for Bush? :eyes:

I think she's an excellent choice.

[Up2Late]

33. Frankly, down here in Southern North America, in Canada's Evil Twin

(O.K., Twin might be exaggerating just a bit)

I've been thinking that same as this quote, only substitute "socialist" for "Fascist," and add the word "almost" before "convinced" and it fits my feelings about right:

"I'm convinced now it's a big socialist experiment to see how much conservatives will take before they go ape-shit and kill everyone"

[MisterP]

3. Clarkson was also on the telly a lot

this is neato

[arikara]

6. Oh, this is so cool!

She's done some great work and Passionate Eye is one of the only things left on television that I watch anymore.

[sonicx]

7. she's cute.

Sorry, had to say it.

[5thGenDemocrat]

13. Yes, she sure is

Sorry, had to second it.
John
And speaks five languages. And is my age to boot. Whoo.

[Lisa]

38. and her kid is even cuter!

I think she's about 6 years old -- she and her dad were standing quietly in the background during the announcement, on the CBC this morning. I couldn't find a photo of the threesome online -- just one of the incoming GG and her husband (a Quebec filmmaker who I think looks a little bit like the actor James Cromwell).





p.s. I think, given how busy Madame Clarkson has been during her term, that having a younger GG is quite a good idea. The post requires a lot of travel and a lot of different events (which can be exhausting). As it should! If I'm going to be chipping in to pay her salary, I want an active head of state. Looking at the schedule that the US President has, the ceremonial/hosting duties take up so much time. Even when the First Lady is pressed into service, it seems that the President ends up doing a lot of symbolic stuff which uses up time which could be spent listening to advisors and reading important memos. Not that I'm making an excuse for Bush, but even Clinton wished he had more time for decisonmaking. I don't consider myself a pro-monarchy type, but it makes sense to split the head of state from the head of government -- and under our system, the GG is the most logical choice to do the "figurehead" chores. (I want a Prime Minister who's governing, not cutting ribbons all the time.)

[geckosfeet]

31. Come on, she is gorgeous!

[davidinalameda]

11. I want to move to Canada

[u4ic]

12. I told this to my father tonight

"The next Governor General was announced".

"Who is he ?" :eyes:

"She! She's a journalist with the CBC. Do you ever watch the Passionate Eye...the documentary series...."

"Oh, a liberal". :wtf:

He complains that the CBC should have been abolished long ago, but what station does he watch the most? What news does he trust? He was moaning all winter because of no Hockey Night in Canada...

How can one be pro-union, complain the government isn't doing enough for the underpriviledged, complain about health care being in shambles, hates big business and YET vote Conservative??!? :banghead:

[Maple]

14. I know a lot

of people who are NDP ideologically...believe in every policy statement the NDP ever wrote, right down the line...yet they vote Conservative.

Occasionally it boils down to just one issue...SSM for example, but most often it seems to be an urge to kick over the traces, cock a snoot at the govt, get rid of the 'suits', rebel, whatever.... without the slightest thought to what they could be voting IN.

So why anyone who is NDP to their soul would vote Conservative....{{{{shudder}}}}....I don't know, beyond pure contrariness.

[u4ic]

15. For him

it's a combination of a few things...his age (80 - still thinks the Conservatives have the same values as Diefenbaker's :crazy: ), is Prairie raised and hence would love to see a PM from the West (doesn't realize that what the west is offering as leaders are ridiculous clods), and that he can't read the smaller print in the Edmonton Journal....so he's switched to the Sun. He, unfortunately, believes that crap is real news. :shrug:

But his core values...NDP all the way.

One other argument I hear is "well, they'll never get into power anyway". Why sure, if you don't vote for them! :think: Even if they don't, they're a wonderful opposition party.

[Maple]

16. I'd like to see

our current band of neo-cons gone....permanently.

ANYBODY but the Harp seals!

The old PCs were fine as an alternative choice for govt when necessary...but this new bunch...no way.

Ever.

A Liberal govt with an NDP opposition is an obvious combo we've never achieved for some reason.

We've even had a Bloc opposition, but never an NDP one! Very strange. :shrug:

[iverglas]

17. (Haiti-born) Jean called 'inspired choice' for governor general (Canada)

(Explanatory parentheses added in the subject line for anyone not familiar with CBC Newsworld's "Passionate Eye" documentary series, of which Michaelle Jean is currently the host.)

This is the woman who will be
Canada's formal counterpart to the President of the US.

(She'll be in office for five years, so we can expect her to be the first head of state to greet your new Democratic president, when the victor in 2008 remembers his/her country's manners, after an 8-year lapse into rudeness, and pays a formal courtesy call on Canada right after getting elected.)

CBC: Jean called 'inspired choice' for governor general

Michaelle Jean will be Canada's next governor general. The official announcement will be made by Prime Minister Paul Martin at 11 a.m. ET on Thursday.

At just 48 years old, the award winning journalist will become one of the youngest governors general ever, the third woman in the job and the first black person to call Rideau Hall home.

... Historian David Mitchell says Jean will play an important role, at a critical time in Canada's history. "She will be a voice for Canada in Quebec and she will represent the new Quebec to the rest of Canada very effectively. She has that potential and that sense, this is an inspired choice."

Jean was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. She left in 1968, her family fleeing the oppressive regime of Francois 'Papa Doc' Duvalier, settling in Quebec with her family. She is fluent in five languages: French, English, Spanish, Italian and Haitian Creole.

The retiring Governor General of Canada is Adrienne Clarkson, also a former CBC journalist, who was born in Hong Kong and also came to Canada as a refugee, during WWII.

(She's the one in the middle ;) Her husband, John Raulston Saul on the right, is a writer who does a decent Prince Philip.)

Prior to her, GGs have been old politicians who had achieved some statesman/woman ... or hack ... status.
In brief:

Under the 1982 Constitution of Canada -- written in Canada -- the British monarch is the head of state of Canada. The Governor General is, formally, appointed by the Queen, but on the "recommendation" (i.e. orders) of the Prime Minister. It is essentially a figurehead position with formal/ceremonial functions.

The Queen's executive functions in government are, technically, performed by "the Governor in Council" -- the Governor General and the federal cabinet, consisting of the Prime Minister and the ministers appointed by him/her -- all of whom, like the PM, are elected members of Parliament. (The Queen plays no role whatsoever in the governing of Canada.)

In practice, this means that legislation is passed by the House of Commons and the Senate, and then signed into law as a pure formality by the Governor General, who acts "on the advice" of the PM; the formality is also carried out when the government calls an election. The last time a Commonwealth Governor General took matters into his/her own hands was in Australia in 1975
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_constitutional_crisis_of_1975
and it ain't likely to happen again in any near future. The only time anything similar happened in Canada was in 1926, in the "King-Byng affair". Both instances involved the GG replacing minority governments with the opposition rather than calling or consenting to an election. Background for anyone curious:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/governorgeneral/

More bio info about Michaelle Jean (pronounced mee'-khile zhahn ... let's all imagine George saying it now):
http://www.cbc.ca/programguide/personality/index.jsp?personality=Jean%2C+Michaelle&program=Passionate+Eye

Among her many awards: the Amnesty International Journalism Award in 1995 for a 15-part series on women; the 1994 Anik Prize for information reporting and the 2000 Galaxi Award for best information program host. Jean has also worked with renowned filmmaker Jean-Daniel Lafond to produce three independent documentaries: L'heure de Cuba (1999), about the 40th anniversary of the Cuban revolution, Tropique Nord (1994) about being black in Quebec and the Hot Docs award-winning Haiti dans tous nos rêves (1995).

One thing that might be hoped is that Canada will kind of have to step up to the plate on Haiti now, or look rather oddly hypocritical. Like Miss Universe, the GG tends to have pet projects and target audiences. I look forward to Jean's agenda.

She gets my vote.

[Lisa]

39. I'm just waiting for Dubya to show off with his "Mexican"

He's been known to lapse into Spanish whenever people are speaking French around him, as if to prove that he DOES know another language, so there. Our new GG will just switch from French into Spanish, then into Italian, and totally confuse him. And my guess is that the fact she's rather good-looking will flummox him even more, because he seems to be the sort who "misunderestimates" women, especially youthful ones!

[Swamp Rat]

18. YAAY!!! Geaux Michaelle Jean!!! Merveilleux!!!

Puissance Noire!!!

Puissance De Femme!!!

:yourock:

[Bassic]

21. Geaux??

[Swamp Rat]

24. HAHA! Il est "acadienne."

Je suis de la Nouvelle-Orléans, Louisiane... Je ne parle pas français bien, mais je comprends parce que je parle portugais et Espagnol très bien... eventually, I will acquire French and Italian. I am looking for jobs in Canada right now, but I have to finish school here first. Quebec seems like a great place to live. :)

[Bassic]

25. And indeed it is

:)

And a bif welcome to you if you do move here.

:hi:

Btw : we still spell it go! ;)

[Swamp Rat]

26. Thank you!

I should explain a bit better. It's funny that in over a year I've been posting here, it took a 'furriner' to ask my why I always use "geaux." Here in Southern Louisiana, we have many names like Boudreaux, Thibodeaux, Comeaux. We even have Boudreaux & Thibodeaux jokes! Check 'em out!: http://home.att.net/~phantom-guy/ilo_boudreaux.htm

This is something that only Cajuns and Creoles (like me) and folks from Québec could appreciate! :hi: J'aime le Québec! :loveya: I might move there, but também eu adoro o Brasil e tenho uma namorada lá. If the US Government does not allow her to move here to be with me, a gente vai pra Québec. Puis, j'apprendrai le français! Pensez-vous je l'accpt de volonté du Québec? I have 2 university degrees and working on another masters and PhD (at the same time) right now. My SO speaks fluent French and will earn her masters degree eventually. We are thinking seriously about Québec as an alternative plan.

edit: scary alien lizards :scared:

[Bassic]

28. Yeah I don't see it as a problem.

You're qualified as a skilled worker I think, and willing to learn French to boot, so yeah I think it would work.

I find your last post a little funny because those names are pretty common in Québec and French-Canada, except we mostly spell them without the x. I wonder which version was the first :)

Your use of Geaux caght my eye because at first I didn't realize you meant "Go". In Geaux, because of the "e", the "G" would be soft and pronounced more like a "J". Anyway, flash french lesson here :)

[Minstrel Boy]

20. from a Globe and Mail profile this morning:

MONTREAL -- With her poise, intellect and polished French, Michaëlle Jean has made herself one of the best-known journalists in Quebec in a breathtakingly short time. Yet even the unflappable Ms. Jean concedes that her cool-as-a-cucumber looks can be deceiving.

"Behind my appearance of calm, there is an interior fire that feeds an enormous amount of impatience," she told an interviewer last year.

...

Outspoken, she is also what is called a journaliste engagée -- a politicized journalist. After the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, she expressed sympathy for the victims but also raised questions about the world's response.

"Why such outpouring and compassion for New York and so little for the hundreds and thousands of victims in Rwanda a few years ago?" she asked. She also drew a link between the attacks and U.S. foreign policy. "The attacks on New York and Washington were, in a way, foreseeable."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050804/GGPROFILE04/TPNational/Canada

[Karenina]

35. This is EXCELLENT!!!

GOOOOO Maple Leafs! :woohoo::woohoo::woohoo:

[Bassic]

22. It's a good choice for the position but..

We should really get rid of the monarchy. It is an obsolete institution and keeping it as part of our governement just ads dead weight.

[Darth_Kitten]

27. Another politically correct choice.

Sorry, but I'm not overly thrilled. :)

Another journalist. :eyes:

[Minstrel Boy]

30. I think this is a very adventurous choice for Martin,

and I'm not quick to praise the man. Adventurous because she's political, not politically correct. An independent thinker who, as Iverglas said, should bring an interesting agenda to the role.

[Darth_Kitten]

36. I guess.

:)

[Running Free]

32. Sweet...

I was expecting either Bob Raetard (whose only redeeming quality was being marginally less pathetic than Lynn Macleod and a reasonable bit better han Mike "The Knife" Harris) or Cowboy Preston (whose contributions to political science can best be described as "Alberta good. East bad." and who was responsible for undoing some of the hard work that Tommy Douglas, Agnes Macphail, Jean Lesage, and Pierre Trudeau did to prevent us from becoming an American puppet state.).

Incidentally, I love the Passionate Eye, but I've never really watched Rough Cuts.

[kermujin]

37. i'm with you!

I was stunned when I heard this. She's fantastic!
Hooray!
Kermujin